Chandeliers are decorative and functional light sources that are used to illuminate rooms in a fashionable manner. Their size, price range and aesthetic features range from the small, inexpensive and purely functional to the large, very expensive and extremely elegant. The lighting configurations of these chandeliers vary with their styles. Some chandeliers may have a simple 4, 6 or 8 bulb configuration, while others may have multiple tiers of many lights each. For example, a bottom tier may contain ten lights, while a second tier may only contain five lights.
Regardless of their particular characteristics, all chandeliers possess two main elements--a set of arms that generally contains light sockets, and two conductor wires that supply power to the light sockets from a main power wire. The two conductor wires from all of the individual sockets run into a central connection housing in the chandelier known as the wire body. The wire body is the enclosed volume on the central axis of a chandelier in which all connections between the main power wire and the feeders to individual sockets are made. The presence of these wires in the wire body forces someone to engage in the tedious process of joining the feeder wires in the chandelier and insulating the connections. Each individual wire is joined with like wires from other sockets to a power feed line in the wire body. The limited space and numerous wires located within the wire body make the process of assembling and wiring a chandelier more difficult. Connecting this multitude of wires by conventional methods is one of the more time consuming tasks in the process of assembling a chandelier. A multi-tiered chandelier that contains numerous lamps creates an even greater space problem within the wire body than does a simple design with few lamps.
It is a drawback of the prior art that the individual feeder wires that supply electricity to the individual light sockets of the chandelier must be joined either through splicing, wire nuts, soldering and taping, or the like. These connecting methods and devices facilitate a permanent way of transferring electricity from a main power line to the light socket feeders. However, when trouble develops, such as a short circuit or a loose wiring connection, troubleshooting is difficult because one must deal with the large number of feeder wires connected in the limited space of the main housing in order to reach the individual wire connections. Sometimes merely disturbing the "rats nest" within the wire body will make the symptoms of a problem disappear, only to reappear later.
As an alternative to the aforementioned techniques, prior art wiring connectors, such as the connector disclosed by Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 1,045,273, also have utilized a central conductor structure in which a main power wire distributes electricity from a central location to individual feeder wires of the chandelier arms through a central conductor configuration where a central non-grounded conductor is located either above or below a central grounded conductor. The two central conductors are separated by an insulating material.
Other wiring connectors, such as the connector disclosed by Perkins, U.S. Pat. No. 349,516, also incorporate a concentric conductor ring configuration that distributes electricity to feeder wires radially extending to the chandelier arms. Because feeder wires are not spliced to the main power line, these devices eliminate some of the problems and inconveniences resulting from the normal tangle of wires in the chandelier's wire body. These central electrical distribution devices also facilitate easier chandelier assembly.
However, these prior art central electrical distribution devices also suffer from certain drawbacks. Many of these devices require that the feeder wires be stripped for electrical contact with the central contacts before the feeder wires are set in place in either the chandelier wire body or the chandelier arms. Prior art devices are also very "chandelier specific", that is, the devices are specifically manufactured for accommodating one particular chandelier design and size. This inflexibility in application forces chandelier manufacturers and electricians using such devices to keep a large supply of these devices in stock to correctly equip the myriad of chandelier arm configurations and sizes. This inconvenience would result in increased cost to those who must stock and use these items. This result is such a limiting factor that such a possible expense-saving device is bypassed for more traditional chandelier wiring techniques by most assemblers of chandeliers.
The inventor of the present invention has discovered, through the nature of his work and profession, that the process of wiring a chandelier by the use of solder, wire nuts or other devices, for connecting the plurality of wires from the chandelier light sockets together and in turn joining them to a power feed line in a central wire body, is undesirable. The inventor believes that it would be more cost-efficient and less labor-intensive to connect each of the feeder wires from the chandelier arms with a device not heretofore known that would eliminate the need for solder, wire nuts or similar connection devices in making the electrical connections. Thus, the fundamental purpose of the present invention is to reduce the time required to assemble a chandelier. A secondary benefit is the neat and uncluttered wire body that results from its use. The inventor also believes that, because of its design, the present invention can be used in a wide variety of chandeliers and other electrical devices capable of using a multiple wiring connector. Because of its "universal" size, the present invention is not limited to particular chandelier designs and sizes and requires no special fittings or adapters.